Django can't find project-level css files - django

Question

I'm new to Django and I'm trying to understand how django deals with static files. I'm working on building a blog website following a tutorial. here is my project layout:
-myblog
-manage.py
-myblog
-settings.py
-urls.py
-blog
-views.py
-urls.py
-views.py
-static
-blog
-css
-style.css
-templates
-blog
-blog.html
-static
-css
-style.css
-templates
-index.html
but the index.html file can't find it's css file, in index.html file, I have
{% load staticfiles %}
<link href="{% static 'css/style.css' %}" rel="stylesheet">
but it can find the css file in app directory
{% load staticfiles %}
<link href="{% static 'blog/css/style.css' %}" rel="stylesheet">
my settings.py file:
"""
Django settings for myblog project.
For more information on this file, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/topics/settings/
For the full list of settings and their values, see
https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/ref/settings/
"""
# Build paths inside the project like this: os.path.join(BASE_DIR, ...)
import os
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__))
# Quick-start development settings - unsuitable for production
# See https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/howto/deployment/checklist/
# SECURITY WARNING: don't run with debug turned on in production!
DEBUG = True
TEMPLATE_DEBUG = True
ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates'),
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'blog/templates'),
)
# Application definition
INSTALLED_APPS = (
'django.contrib.admin',
'django.contrib.auth',
'django.contrib.contenttypes',
'django.contrib.sessions',
'django.contrib.messages',
'django.contrib.staticfiles',
'blog',
)
MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES = (
'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.auth.middleware.SessionAuthenticationMiddleware',
'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
)
ROOT_URLCONF = 'myblog.urls'
WSGI_APPLICATION = 'myblog.wsgi.application'
# Database
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/ref/settings/#databases
DATABASES = {
'default': {
'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
'NAME': 'myblog',
'USER': 'root',
'PASSWORD': 'q',
'HOST': 'localhost',
'PORT': '3306',
}
}
# Internationalization
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/topics/i18n/
LANGUAGE_CODE = 'en-us'
TIME_ZONE = 'US/Eastern'
USE_I18N = True
USE_L10N = True
USE_TZ = True
# Static files (CSS, JavaScript, Images)
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/howto/static-files/
#
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static')
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
# os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static/'),
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'blog/static/'),
)
can anyone tell me what's going on here? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You can have as many static files folders as you want, just a)namespace those folders accordingly (static files for the whole project and for an every app separately) and b) provide the path to your static folders within settings file.
In most up-to-date django (1.8) project I have the following settings
BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
STATIC_URL = '/static/'
STATICFILES_DIRS = (
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'app_name_here/static/'),
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static/'),
os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'static/bootstrap-3.3.4'),
)
no STATIC_ROOT defined.

Answer 2

Django can't detect the directories out from your project folder. If you keep the static and templates folder in myblog it will work smoothly.
-myblog
-myblog
-settings.py
-urls.py
-blog
-views.py
-urls.py
-views.py
-static
-blog
-css
-style.css
-templates
-blog
-blog.html
-static
-css
-style.css
-templates
-index.html